After we got things settled with the Hidan, things began progressing around us. A crowd had begun gathering to view us from a distance, and it seemed to consist of at least half of the children in the entire tribe. However, there seemed to be some invisible line that none of them dared cross, and anyone who tried to come closer than that was immediately reprimanded by someone else in the tribe.

As the five of us transplants from Earth were being viewed like some kind of zoo attraction, the Hidan had begun unloading their wagons and setting up some miniature tipi-style tents that they had loaded onto all those wagons. They were making use of some long and thin cut logs that seemed to have been left behind and neatly stacked by previous visitors to this place, and then simply draping a large linen tarp over the circular pole structure.

Meanwhile, others were approaching Rimir. They seemed to be asking his blessing and permission to enter the forest in order to hunt.

As all of this was going on, Sagle delivered a message with the spirit speech that only fey can hear.

‘As I am sure you have noticed, we are trying to keep the matter of outworlders a secret. The people of this tribe will be told eventually, but for now I would like you to remain as you have been. They will keep a distance from you, believing it rude to approach the highly protected young elves who are never usually brought outside the forest. Outworlder fairy, you can keep standing with them as a guard. That should keep you out of trouble.’

‘My name is not outworlder fairy. You can call me Mr. Adderson.’ The man countered.

There was a pause from Sagel before he finally responded again.

‘I will call you Adderson if you insist on it. The term you used before that. I assume it is some honorific? It does not translate well into any of the languages I know.’

“I could have told you that much.” I said aloud in English. “I have been using a term that means skilled master when I refer to you in Elven. It doesn’t quite fit, but it really is the closest term they have to ‘Mr.’”

“Heh, master, huh?” Mr. Adderson said and shook his head.

“What? What’s going on?” Levin suddenly demanded.

“They must have been talking to someone with that fey talk ability.” Rolwen said.

“Yeah, I knew that! What were they talking about?”

“How am I supposed to know? Ask one of them!”

“It was Sagle.” I told them. “He wants us to go back to playing toddler in public.”

“Again!?” Levin complained.

“That’s gonna be a bitch!” Rolwen added. “We got no tree to retreat to and be ourselves in private. I really don’t think this is going to work out long term.”

“Apparently, it’s supposed to only be temporary.” I said.

“Yeah?” Mr. Adderson interrupted. “Well, just how long is temporary?” The derisive nature of his tone made it very clear what he thought about the one who promised us this ‘temporary’ nature of the arrangement. I couldn’t blame him, the very person in question had just gone back on an agreement we had.

“He said he needed to get the people of this tribe sworn to secrecy.” I commented, trying to keep as straight a face as I could. “I will apply pressure to make the timeline on this short. Meanwhile, I think as long as we keep it to English, we can probably have discussions on any topic we like. We don’t have to be super careful. I would actually say a few slip-ups on our end could help in applying pressure to them.”

“Hahh…” Mr. Adderson groaned and shook his head.

“Problem?” I asked.

“Yeah. Ya’ know what your problem is kid?” He said.

“Are you calling me kid?” I asked.

“She was actually 60 back on Earth.” Levin supplied with an almost triumphant tone.

“Bah! Whatever. Compared to me, you’re definitely a kid now!” He grumbled.

“So, tell me. What IS my problem?” I said in a challenging tone.

Mr. Adderson shook his head. “Well, as I was gonna say, you enjoy playing these games just a little too much. I was thinkin before you seemed to just be good at survivin out these messed up games the fey play with you. You’re not just good though. You’re taking to it just as naturally as all of them do. Is this nonsense something that’s just natural to the fey or something? It’s like you’ve been infected by their politics already.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“And what would you have me do?” I asked. “I believe you were the one who shouted Levin down to go along with the deal I got a while back. You know very well that what I’m doing is what’s best for this group. That’s why you said what you did, right?”

“Yeah, I said that…” Mr. Adderson said and looked off into the distance. “I was right when I said it too. It’s just… All I’m saying is, try not to get swallowed up by it. I mean, I get it. It’s just…”

“Yeah, I hear ya’” I said. “But, for now, we are doing what we have to do.”

“Yeah, what we have to do.” Mr. Adderson grumbled.

It was at about this point that I noticed Tia’s face. She had been quiet for most of this conversation, so I hadn’t payed her much mind. However, it was only now that I noticed just how down-cast she looked. She was staring at the ground like she was trying to light the grass on fire with her mind, and her hands were balled into fists. It might just be her toddler body, but it almost looked like she was about to burst into tears of frustration.

Of course, she noticed me looking at her immediately. She looked up with a slightly panicked expression and then forced a smile as she met my gaze.

“Tia.” I said.

“It’s alright.” She said. “We’ll talk later tonight after everyone goes to sleep. This isn’t something to talk about right now.”

“Hah! See that? Goddess girl knows what I’m talking about.” Mr. Adderson said.

Tia looked up at him with the harshest and most withering glair that a 2-year-old’s face could possibly manage. It would look comical if that face was on a normal toddler, but the unnatural intelligence behind that gaze and the deadly serious air she had about her was such that no one would dare even laugh at her about it.

Mr. Adderson shut up rather quickly when he took this in and actually started to squirm a bit. An uncomfortable silence descended on our group after that, and we all decided to just watch what was going on with the Hidan and their preparations for this fey-related ritual of theirs.

While we were sitting in our corner and brooding, all of them were in a festive mood. However, it seemed at some point that some manner of debate came up in regards to what was going to be done with us. Or, more specifically, they really didn’t seem to know how to handle the four adult males in the group. Eirlathion, Rimir, Mr. Adderson, and Sagle. A surprisingly fierce debate had erupted over whether or not the four of them would get their own tent.

It seemed, as Sagle explained to us while the debate was raging on, that it was in the Hidan tradition that all adult males slept outdoors. The tents were only for women and their children. However, they also had a very large degree of respect for the fey and were having trouble with the idea of asking them to sleep without shelter.

The debate was finally settled by Rimir. He made a very strong stance that he personally would abide by the traditions and that no allowances should be made for him being a fey. A sentiment that Sagle signed on to immediately afterward. Eirlathion was dragged along by peer pressure, and Mr. Adderson was not even asked for his opinion.

There was a lot of grumbling between Rolwen and Mr. Adderson about this. Levin was actively upset and yelling for us to complain about it, but Levin’s pronounced opposition was quickly countered by Mr. Adderson suddenly taking a firm stance on going along with the other guys. It wasn’t the conclusion that was the issue, it was the fact he wasn’t asked. He didn’t even need sleep anymore, so a tent wasn’t necessary.

Eventually, as day turned to night, the game hunters brought back their catch and fires were lit. They cooked up the meat they had hunted and prepared a large feast. This is when Sagel came to our group and finally guided us in to meet everybody while trying to put on our best toddler behaviors.

On my advice, everyone just looked around in silent curiosity at everything, just gawking like we had no clue what was even going on around us but were intensely interested in all of it. Or, frightened perhaps, if we thought we could fake that one effectively.

People became even more curious, and there was an almost constant string of cooing from the ladies in the crowd fawning over “the elf children.” However, they still refused to come near us. Considering the frightened looks on their faces as their eye-levels rose though, I would say Mr. Adderson had a lot more to do with their hesitancy than anything related to respect for our mother.

It was really no surprise they were all so scared. Mr. Adderson really looked upset. Not that I could blame him with how he was being treated lately.

Come to think of it, Mother and Eirlathion were also keeping a distance from us. It had started roughly around the same time Mr. Adderson arrived. There were several things that had also happened around that same time that could easily explain her behavior, but… it had still roughly coincided with his arrival. As for the rest of the potential culprits…

“Because you have discovered this power,

everything that is around you now

will begin to turn against you.”

Suddenly, a very unpleasant memory from over a year ago cropped back into my head. That’s right, everything that had happened to potentially cause my mother to fear me came down to two possible culprits once everything gets boiled down. The arrival of Mr. Adderson and my demonstrations of my abilities.

Come to think of it, it was also that self-proclaimed angel who sent Mr. Adderson.

“After you meet with the savior,

you will discover why you must…

return…”

“Afterward, I will be here to guide you...”

Shit! That’s right! I was supposed to happen across something that should make me want to get back to Earth. That bastard hadn’t exactly said it would involve Mr. Adderson, but… Shit! I do remember him saying something immediately after we met him. It was while he was talking to the boys, while me and Tia were still hiding in the shadows. I didn’t have time to really think about it at the time, but…

The question started to burn at my mind. Apocalypse. He had said something about dying in an apocalypse.

I was starting to get a very sick feeling in my stomach. I knew for a fact that the very moment I asked Mr. Adderson to explain what that was all about, things were going to change irreparably. But… Katelyn… If there was even a chance that something might have happened to my granddaughter after Tia killed me back on Earth, I had to know about it.

I didn’t want to ask. I knew I shouldn’t. If I can just keep holding off, things will not move forward.

No. Now is definitely not a good time to ask him. I need to ask him about this, but now is not a good time. Not with all these eyes. That’s right. It’s not…